From Confinement to Freedom: The Psychology of Jesus

By Sharon R. Olson

Personal transformation, liberation, and fulfillment can be discovered by anyone, anywhere, anytime, in the message and modeling of Jesus, not by denying or changing creed, race, gender, sexual orientation, or culture, but by freely manifesting the fullness of psychological and spiritual fulfillment. Jesus taught and modeled a universal, inclusive spirituality. This book illustrates that Jesus simultaneously taught and modeled the highest form of behavioral psychology applying to everyone, everywhere. The focus herein is a reexamination and reintroduction of the life and lessons of Jesus of Nazareth from a behavioral and inclusively spiritual point of view across creeds and cultures beyond religion. Those who study and practice the spiritual tenets of diverse religions and nonaffiliated spiritual pathways apart from Christianity will recognize shared experience, belief, and practice in the behavioral and spiritual lessons taught and modeled by Jesus. Therefore, this book is written for all people, religious and secular, inclusive of creed, race, gender, sexual orientation, and culture, who believe in an infinite, permeating principle that births and joins all of Creation, that is known by any name, form, or substance (God, Goddess, Father, Mother, Yahweh, Allah, Great Spirit, Grandmother, Grandfather, Creator, Maker, One, New Physics, et al.) from which all Creation springs, from which Creation cannot be separated, and through which we become the most transcendent and liberated of our human selves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499072020

Sharon R. Olson

Sharon R. Olson, MA, LMHC, holds Bachelors Degrees in Theology and Speech Communications and a Masters in Applied Behavioral Science. She began her career as a Mental Health Counselor in 1988. In a completely separate career that began after college graduation, Sharon worked in corporate settings as a software trainer and document specialist. Over the past 40 years, this diverse education and experience in uniquely different venues has broadly shaped Sharon’s keen, inclusive interest in spirituality and human development. Digressing from this book, which specifically references Christian Scripture, Sharon is currently in the process of launching Peership Principles, her own universally spiritual/humanistic model for personal and professional growth and leadership on behalf of individuals, groups and organizations. Peership Principles incorporates two paradigms—the first with an emphasis on universal spirituality/human behavior (peership.com), the second with a strictly humanistic/behavioral emphasis (peership.net) in order to meet the needs of individuals, groups and organizations with these distinctive developmental interests. Sharon lives near Seattle, Washington. (Cover photo courtesy of Jack Peterson, Tacoma, Washington.)

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Copyright © 2014 by Sharon R. Olson.

Library of Congress Control Number:          2014916377

ISBN:          Hardcover          978-1-4990-7203-7

                   Softcover           978-1-4990-7201-3

                   eBook                 978-1-4990-7202-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 09/25/2014

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Contents

Preface

Premise

Chapter One From Confinement to Freedom

Chapter Two The Scriptural Foundation

Chapter Three The Psychological Basics

Chapter Four The Behavioral Gospel

Chapter Five I Am The Way

Chapter Six Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Appendix Resource

Core Psychological/Behavioral Concepts

Definition and Use of Terms

Walking My Path

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1965, 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Common Bible: Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Apocrypha, copyright 1957; The Third and Fourth Books of the Maccabees and Psalm 151, copyright 1977 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Common Bible: New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

In Memory of

Mildred Helen Hanley Olson

December 16, 1913–July 16, 2007

She was the Salt of the Earth

and the Light of our world.

Thank you for everything, Mom,

especially for your abiding love.

I love you and miss you every day.

Eternal Rest is given unto you,

and Perpetual Light shines upon and through you.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Our duty, as men and women, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. We are collaborators in creation.

We are one, after all, you and I, together we suffer, together exist and forever will recreate each other.

Quotations attributed to

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ

Priest and Paleontologist

1881 – 1955

Preface

This book is written with respect for all religions. Because religions are formed and directed by human beings, and as such are naturally subject to human frailties, they have been understandably criticized and shunned on the grounds of abuse of authority, duplicity, violence, and scandal.

On the other hand, it is equally true (and I believe far more predominantly true) that religions have contributed great goodness in the world through charitable works, through the solace and hope of their traditions, through the comfort and company of their communities, and through the expression and inspiration of shared spiritual beliefs.

Therefore, it is with due respect that this book offers an interpretation of the message of Jesus of Nazareth that is inclusive, universally spiritual, and profoundly human. Rather than interpreting Jesus’ words as theological or dogmatic, it illuminates the psychological wisdom of Jesus that crosses all boundaries of creed, race, gender, sexual orientation, or culture, thus weaving together all humankind in a single, shared, equally free, and equally attainable psychological-spiritual transformation beyond religion.

Premise

Unlike Buddhism, which has been a source of enlightenment and inspiration across cultures and religions for centuries, Christianity has largely kept Jesus to itself, insisting that one must live an affiliated Christian life to know, and benefit from knowing, Jesus of Nazareth. But my understanding of the words of Jesus is that he intended them for all and not on condition of religious affiliation or conversion. It seems to me that the inclusive, liberating lessons of Jesus have been hidden away in a private cave, permitting entrance only to select members, for about two thousand years too many. I believe it is high time the enlightenment and inspiration of Jesus’ mission and message be released onto a path where they can be shared without restriction with the whole world.

* * * * * * * *

28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

(Galatians 3:28)

This quotation from the disciple Paul represents the heart, soul, and intention of this book.

In this passage, I hear that no matter who I am, I am equally called and freely empowered to be immediately and fully connected to the Creator of all Creation, and therefore inexorably joined to all Creation, through the teachings of Jesus. In other words, like anyone, anywhere, anytime, I can discover personal transformation, liberation, and fulfillment in the message and modeling of Jesus, not by denying or changing my creed, race, gender, sexual orientation, or culture, but by honestly becoming freely and fully who I am psychologically and spiritually.

As Paul understood, Jesus taught and modeled a universal, inclusive spirituality. In this book, I will illustrate that Jesus simultaneously taught and modeled the highest form of behavioral psychology applying to everyone, everywhere. Indeed, Jesus’ teaching and behavior perfectly express and represent the unconditional, immediate, full integration of absolute divinity with absolute humanity, the complete and perfect union of psyche and spirit.

The sole focus herein is a reexamination and reintroduction of the life and lessons of Jesus of Nazareth from a behavioral and inclusively spiritual point of view across creeds and cultures beyond religion.

Those who study and practice the spiritual tenets of diverse religions and nonaffiliated spiritual pathways apart from Christianity will recognize shared experience, belief, and practice in the behavioral and spiritual lessons taught and modeled by Jesus.

I encourage the recognition of these commonalities in considering this paradigm’s specific interpretation of Jesus’ precise, clear lessons and modeling that seamlessly integrate humanity’s behavioral clarity and accountability with its inclusive spiritual transformation and liberation. If this new interpretation of the mission and message of Jesus prompts you to reexamine, reinterpret, reclaim, and recommit to those transcendent, liberating traditions of your own culture and creed, leading you to your interconnectedness with and co-creative accountability to all of Creation, it has succeeded.

Therefore, this book is written for all people, religious and secular, inclusive of creed, race, gender, sexual orientation, and culture, who believe in an infinite, permeating principle that births and joins all of Creation, that is known by any name, form, or substance (God, Goddess, Father, Mother, Yahweh, Allah, Great Spirit, Grandmother, Grandfather, Creator, Maker, One, New Physics, et al.):

• from which all Creation springs,

• from which Creation cannot be separated, and

• through which we become the most transcendent and liberated of our human selves.¹

Chapter One

From Confinement to Freedom

There are those who will argue that Jesus of Nazareth never lived at all, that he is the imaginative figment of some fanatic cult. Personally, I trust the scholarship that I have read validating the historical fact of Jesus of Nazareth’s life. However, like the controversy regarding Shakespeare’s singular or communal identity, whether or not the author(s) or subject matter can be historically validated, I am influenced by the stories, human insight, and spiritual lessons of Judeo-Christian Scripture. The teachings of Jesus are inspiring, empowering, and liberating to my personal beliefs, whether or not his existence can be historically validated. Arguing the who, what, where, and why of the annotated message of Jesus of Nazareth is, I believe, one thing that has kept the message from being heard and appreciated across cultures and religions for millennia.

Setting the Stage for Jesus. Genesis is the opening book of the Judeo-Christian Scripture. In the beginning, it chronicles the unfolding of Creation, culminating in the Creation of a male and a female called Adam and Eve. In my interpretation, the story of Adam and Eve is a psychological-spiritual allegory symbolizing the splitting off of the human experience from a life of transcendent fullness through and with the Creator/Creation.

Combining the two separate stories of Creation in Genesis, the classic tale of Adam and Eve as told from a psychological-spiritual point of view is, in essence, as follows.

The Creator created Adam and Eve and their home in the Garden of Eden (Paradise). They were told by the Creator that Paradise was made for their joy and fulfillment and were mandated to be fruitful and multiply. Further, they were to have authority over all of Creation and were charged with its stewardship. The Garden of Eden was abundant with goodness, purity (innocence), physical and spiritual wholeness, and